Page 137

Everything.

Ash's fingers moved carefully over the ridge of scales above my nose, tentative at first and then with growing confidence when I remained still beneath his touch.

You're warm.

The thought carried wonder with it, and something else I couldn't name because hearing Ash wasn't like hearing words spoken aloud. Emotion seemed to bleed around the edges, faint but unmistakable.

Very observant.

His mouth fell open.

“You're sarcastic as a dragon?”

Apparently.

His grin returned, and the sight of it loosened something inside me.

You're very warm, he repeated, deliberately using the connection this time. I suppose I should've guessed that part.

I exhaled softly, and Ash laughed when the breath stirred his hair.

I'd imagined this moment in a hundred different ways without ever imagining him standing this close, touching me willingly while his thoughts reached mine as naturally as though we'd been doing it for years.

My dragon made a sound deep in my chest.

Ash froze, and I immediately stopped.

“What was that?”

I considered pretending not to understand the question, which became impossible when Ash's eyes narrowed.

Max.

Nothing.

His suspicion deepened. “Did you just purr?”

Absolutely not.

The sound came again before I could prevent it.

Traitor.

Ash's laughter burst through the clearing, and because his hand was still touching me, I got the additional humiliation of feeling his amusement through the connection.

“Oh my God. You did.”

Dragons don't purr.

“This one does.”

I can stop talking to you.

His grin widened. No, you can't.

The certainty of the thought struck somewhere far deeper than he could possibly have intended, and for a moment I simply looked at him while my dragon settled beneath his hand as though he'd spent his entire existence waiting for Ash to put it there.

Ash had no idea what he'd just said.